Richard Fan

Senior Jeremy Si receives serve from The King’s Academy on May 4.

The ball shot over the net as senior outside hitter Jeremy Si served a topper into the middle. The serve rebounded through the air, coming back over to the Falcons in a high arc. Without hesitation, junior middle Ahmed Abdalla jumped up and spiked the ball down the middle, earning the finishing point before the Knights could react. 

The Falcons carried overwhelming momentum through the game, with a crushing 3-0 victory against The King’s Academy on May 4, winning the sets 25-18, 25-15 and 25-17. 

The first set was close. A wide set to junior opposite hitter Anson Hulme brought the score up to 8-4, but several mistakes in receives and hits brought the score back to 10-10. With favorable rotations during Si and Abdalla’s serves, the Falcons widened their lead to 19-14 after aces by both Si and Abdalla. A set to Si on the outside into a crushing spike crosscourt finished the first set 25-18. 

“I think we served really well, so we got a lot of runs,” Si said. “Also, we had really good defense because our blockers were everywhere, so we could shut down their hitters.” 

During the second set, the Falcons showed a dominating performance. Abdalla played a key role during this set, earning numerous points with his well-placed quick-attacks in the middle. Senior outside hitter Bill Huang finished the set 25-15 with a bouncer line hit and his second ace of the set. 

“When I was setting in the middle of the season, there was much less consistency,” junior setter Lawrence He said. “My sets were there, but they weren’t there every time. Now, I can connect with every player on the team every time.” 

Like the last set, the third set started with fast action. With a lightning fast beamer from the outside, Si’s spike hit touched down on the line in the back corner to immense cheering from the crowd. Further consecutive pressuring serves by Si brought the score up to 17-10. Tight coordination between He and Si finished the game 25-17 and the win in just three sets. With it, they edged into first place and came closer to winning the Foothill league title.

“This was definitely one of the better games we played this season,” He said. “It took us time to get acclimated to playing this way. Toward the end of the season, people got much more fired up, with the prospect of winning the league and going to CCS in mind. We had to lock in to go undefeated because we took two early season losses.” 

The Falcons will have their last game of the season at 5:45 p.m. on May 6 against Eastside College Prep at home during their senior night, honoring seniors Si, Huang and setter Justin Jiang. 

After, the Falcons are set to play their first game of CCS on May 11, with their opponent yet to be decided.